The Ashes of Tannhauser Gate
by ArchangelUK
Summary: When a five-headed dragon asks for a favour would you dare to say no? Eric under the instructions of the Dungeon Master has a task to carry out - whether he wants to or not... And quite frankly it's not.
1. Travellers Rest

**The Ashes of Tannhauser Gate  
By ArchangelUK **

Hey look - a Dungeons & Dragons disclaimer! I do…. [rolls dice] … _not_ own Dungeons & Dragons (advanced, animated or otherwise). I'd also like to thank the guys who brought D&D out on DVD and the guys on the commentaries for putting me off my Evangelion fanfic so much I had to write this. My thanks and fist shaking curses to you all… _**to you ALL!!!!**_

**Pt 1: Travellers Rest**

_'When thine neighbour's house doth burn, be careful of thine own.' - Proverb_

It was dark and depressing in this particular part of the Realm, then again Presto thought most of the Realm was either dark or depressing. The little band of adventurers had spent the majority of yesterday picking their way carefully through the 'Sands of Shame' and were now resting before they made their way to their next port of call. A castle keep stood on top of a mountain some four kilometres south and Dungeon Master had said (in as much as Dungeon Master actually 'says' anything) that were they to investigate it they may find something to help them find a way home.

The road just ahead forked in two directions, a sign told any travellers that the left pathway lead to the 'Skull Cenotaph' and the right to 'Castle of the Waking Nightmare'. Eric had sighed and muttered something about how it wasn't a surprise the Realm's tourist population wasn't exactly a staggering volume.

The magician looked around the group, they were all very tired. Uni was asleep, not in any particularly comfy position it had to be said. When Hank made the call that they should stop here for the night the little unicorn had collapsed in a heap where it stood and was now snoozing away, only the occasional yawn or snort interrupting her calm breathing. Bobby and Sheila had been talking quietly in a corner for a while now, about what Presto didn't know and he respected them enough to mind his own business. He suspected it was about home though; Sheila was always the one who tried to keep everyone's spirits up and just rarely Bobby's feelings would betray the warrior image he had tried to conjure up since their arrival in the Realm. Presto's smile waned, Barbarian he may be but try as he might to tell the world otherwise Bobby was young and there were certain things that would always get the better of him.

For now.

Hank and Diana sat by the fire, Diana still had her normal buoyancy and the fiery passion that burned in her eyes was still visible to all, but Hank looked paler than normal. He looked old to Presto, much older than his teenage years. The endless journeying and weight of the leadership usually seemed nothing to him. The Hank the Realm knew was made of iron; hardship rolled off of him like beads of water. The Hank the gang saw in these late hours was an emotionally drained shell, however rest would rejuvenate him and as usual when they woke up he would be the pillar of strength they all knew and respected.

Presto slumped down on an old tree trunk that had been rolled over to use as seating around the campfire. His magic hat sagged over his eyes so he took it off his head and tried to pull its point upwards making it straight.

"Hmm, guess we're not the only ones drained huh?" The hat sagged again, through conscious movement or not, but effectively giving him its answer.

A rustle of leaves greeted the return of the Cavalier. Eric had been gathering firewood, a task he undertook for once without prompting and by the size of the bundle of sticks he was carrying a task he was rather successful at. Presto raised a hand in greeting and a ghost of a smile tugged at Eric's lips.

"Hey, Presto."

Presto nodded and looked his friend over for a minute, the normally cocky youth was nothing like his normal self.

"Hey, Eric. Something on your mind?"

"Oh no, no nothing at all." Eric gave a forced smile and put the bundle down at a safe distance to the flames. He looked up, his armour shimmering slightly in the light of the three Realm moons all of which were full this night. A cloudbank slowly drifted across them and the light dimmed noticeably, snapping Eric out of the trance he was in. "Listen, I'm gonna go scout the perimeter for a while, make sure there's nothing with multiple heads and a taste for human flesh following us."

"Are you sure?" The magician asked, poking his glasses further up his nose. "I mean what if you find such a monster?"

"Then you'll be able to follow my ear piercing howls of terror." Eric replied picking up his shield and turning away.

"Eric you ran away scared from a frog this morning." Bobby laughed, "How will we know the difference?"

"I'll make sure it's a significantly loud howl of terror." The Cavalier said quiet and trudged off into the forest, Bobby blinked at Eric's retreating back.

"Is he okay Sheila? I mean, I was expecting a bit more of a snappy comeback than that."

His sister frowned, "I know what you mean, since Dungeon Master visited us the other day Eric hasn't been himself."

"Maybe I should follow him and make sure he's okay." Presto volunteered and finding that no one was that inclined to stop him set off after his friend.

The forest was a foreboding place at best, every stereotype of a haunted wood very obviously there. Horrible screeching noises over his head, trees whose branches moved even with no breeze and had on their trunks huge hideous faces. The howls of wild creatures that sounded like wolves echoed around him, spider webs the size of transit vans dotted the undergrowth, as well as multiple sets of eyes that glowed red in the darkness. Some of the creaking branches even held effigies of some ghastly paganesque creatures made of twigs. Despite all this Presto wasn't afraid, perhaps because of its overly cliché nature or maybe his time in the Realm. How long had they been trapped here anyway? The wizard pushed his way through the undergrowth, following the path that Eric had visibly taken.

After a while he could have sworn he was no longer going straight but to the left, a thought made fact some three minutes later when he popped out of the woodland back where the signpost was.

"What the?" Presto began, only to notice footprints in the dusty path heading in the direction of the Skull Cenotaph. "Where's he going?"

Eric stood before the Cenotaph and waited for whom he knew would show up, the name Skull Cenotaph left little to the imagination. It was a great obelisk of bone, skulls jutted out the features twisted in pain and suffering, Eric began to wonder just how much pain someone must be in and for how long that they should remain so in death however knowing he would not like the answer to his question he shook this idea from his head. The air stank of sulphur, and the red stone walls were streaked with the yellow bile that was the stuff. In front of the obelisk a bowl of bone held by two pairs of skeletal arms stuck out, in which a pool of blood (which too stank beyond belief) sat unwavering. Every so often though a drop of seemingly fresh blood would fall from a skull above into the pool – perhaps ensuring it would remain at the same level as the blood slowly evaporates.

"Creepy." He mumbled to himself as the moat of molten lava bubbled around him, "I hope Dungeon Master knows what he's doing."

"Of course I do Cavalier."

"WHAAAAA!" Eric jumped into the air and onto the bowl, managing to put only one foot in the blood and hanging onto the cenotaph as if his life depended on it. "Will you stop doing that!?"

"Doing what?" Dungeon Master said innocently, the smile that crossed his face revealing his true thoughts.

"That!" Eric gestured with one hand and in doing so lost his grip, swinging himself around to come face to face with the gruesome skull he was inadvertently clinging on to. Eric screamed and let go, falling unceremoniously onto his chain mail clad backside. "Ouch!"

"I am glad to see you arrived safely at least Cavalier, your time of trial will soon come."

"Oh sensational!" Eric flung his hands in the air, "And what may I ask is so important that I have to leave my friends and go on some kind of adventure or quest alone?"

"Not alone Cavalier, true friends will know of trouble before trouble finds you."

"And sometimes the trouble is the friend." Eric retorted, "And you still haven't told me what I'm doing in this Boris Karlov paradise."

"A young female contacted me recently quite surprisingly," Dungeon Master said evenly, "She has been forced from her home and requires assistance in retrieving her abode from the trespasser. This situation is serious enough to do great damage to the stability of the Realm, plus it could forever deny the path home to you."

"Surprisingly huh?" Eric's eyebrows rose inquisitively, "Here's me thinking everything in the Realm was already decided o' Master of the Dungeons."

At this Dungeon Master did look surprised, "Not all Cavalier." He turned away slightly, a puzzled if not unnerved look appearing on his brow. "Not all."

Eric sighed, "Naturally. So why only me."

"It was her request; she shall no doubt fill you in more on the details."

"My, my, not even a riddle this time on how to solve this problem DM?"

"No." Dungeon Master shook his head.

"Right." Eric ran a gauntleted hand through his hair, then back down over his face. "So I just help this girl out and all will be well right… Right Dungeon Master?"

He'd disappeared.

Again.

Eric looked at his reflection in the blood pool and sighed, why, oh why was it always _him._

A terrible howl erupted outside and ripples skipped across the surface of the blood pool erasing his mirror image from view. He swallowed, trying to reposition his heart back into its correct position and remove it from his throat. Thunderous footsteps announced that the person he was waiting for had arrived, summoning up courage from somewhere he picked up his shield and walked back down to the pathway. It was at this exact time that his guess as to his personal life expectancy nose-dived spectacularly.

Tiamat strode in through the door...

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**__****_Please Review!  
ArchangelUK 0:o)_**


	2. The Lady In Red

**The Ashes of Tannhauser Gate  
By ArchangelUK **

I do not own Dungeons & Dragons (advanced, animated or otherwise). Of course I also would not say that _'he who owns nothing will find in his heart that he owns all'_. For you see, that would make me the Dungeon Master and quite frankly the whole 'Hulk Hogan Hair' thing doesn't appeal to me._** THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE DISCALIMER OF… Dungeons & Dragons!**_

**Pt 2: The Lady In Red**

Eric Montgomery, deceased. August 13th 1988 (ERT).

Cause of Death:

#1 – Burnt to a crisp by fire.  
#2 – Poisoned by noxious green gas.  
#3 – Struck by lightning.  
#4 – Turned into an ice cube.  
#5 – Turned into a statue by volcanic ash.  
#6 – Eaten alive.  
#7 – Stomped on by a great five headed monster.

At this moment Eric wasn't quite sure which it would be, his mental list headed by the words 'delete as appropriate' might well have both referred to his method of death or simply Tiamat's current thoughts regarding him. Not being the most observant out of the group Dungeon Master had annoyingly kept referring to as the Young Ones, the Cavalier had not noticed the great Dragon Queen was not attacking. Then again he was cowering behind his shield having backed onto the disturbingly sticky steps of the Skull Cenotaph.

"What are you doing in this holy plaaaayce?" The serpentine voice of Tiamat's central head demanded, the voice which reverberated deeply around the red and yellow streaked stone walls sounded as though all five heads were speaking through the one mouth. Or rather, it was the same voice five times over with very slight differences.

Eric despite his terror nearly laughed, holy place? That could be debated. Instead of a discussion though he closed his eyes and squeaked. "Who me?"

"You!" Tiamat bellowed, stepping a pace forward which made the floor shake and quake violently. "You have disturrrrbed the sacred shrine of the Skull Senotaaaaph. Why are you here?"

Eric winced, Tiamat's voice was difficult to listen to at the best of times which coincidentally were the times he heard it the least. That hissing really got on the nerves. He ran his tongue around his surprisingly dry lips and peeped over his shield. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't know this cenotaph thing was a holy place, I mean it doesn't exactly look like a holy place. I mean perhaps it is if you're a big fan of the whole bones and blood look if you, erm, you know, know what I mean. I didn't mean to intrude or anything if this is some kind of private dragon thing, that's if it is, or if it's not… heck I don't know." His bumbling explanation didn't seem to be appeasing Tiamat, in fact it seemed to be making her angry. She took another pace and with two flicks of her tail closed the two giant doors behind her, Eric gulped audibly. He was now trapped inside with Tiamat.

"You will face the consequences of your trespassss!"

"Lemmie guess, death?" Tiamat's response was a howl which made Eric actually drop his shield to cover his ears such was the volume. "Of all the times in my life, why did it have to be now that I get finally something right?" He cried out above the noise, "Thanks a lot Dungeon Master; I'll think of you when the different bits of me are slowly being digested."

Tiamat suddenly stopped her roaring and looked at the Cavalier curiously. "The Dungeon Maaaaster? What do you know of the Dungeon Maaaaster?"

"Precious little." He muttered savagely before thinking better of it. "He told me to meet him here." Eric replied, recovering possession of his shield and standing up. "He left about 10 seconds before you put in an appearance; apparently I'm supposed to wait for some young female to turn up and… oh."

Eric had been pale before and now was the whiteness of ice.

"If you aaare the one the Dungeon Maaaster brought here then I am the one you seek and you are the one I seek." The dragon's forked tongue flicked out between her two front teeth in a snake like hiss.  
  
"Brilliant!" Eric grinned forcibly, walking towards the doors that despite being closed had a gap in the bottom big enough he reckoned to nip through if he was agile enough. "Well now I've found you and you've found me, we'll make a date of it sometime but now I must be going as I'm sure my friends are waiting for me. Nice seeing you, toodles!" He gave a cheery wave and made to make a bolt for it.

"You are going nowheeeere!" Tiamat said, in a commanding tone and made to step forward again but this time Eric swore she appeared to stumble. "You are to…" She began again but this time did definitely stumble, "Y-you…" The dragon swayed briefly before collapsing on her right hand side with an almighty crash. The green and white heads had to move pretty fast to avoid being crushed by Tiamat's rather significant body weight.

As the dust settled and the Cavalier could once again see Tiamat the shock of the sight rendered him completely speechless for at least two or three minutes. When he finally recovered his wits, he found only two words able to pass his lips.

"Dear God…"

From this position it was obvious why Tiamat had collapsed, her lower torso and left side that were previously hidden from him were a mess. A great many scales were missing and in their place were scabbed up wounds, it wasn't difficult to realise these were claw marks. The worst of which stretched all the way up from her belly to the neck of Tiamat's black dragon head which also possessed a trio of bite marks. Eric dropped his shield which clanged against the chalky white steps and despite his better judgement half walked half ran over to the stricken beast.

"Who did this?"

Tiamat grimaced and Eric moved around to face her main head, on closer inspection her fuzzy orange mane was caked with her blood. Her wing was a mess too, how she'd been able to fly here was a mystery to Eric and a testament to the strength of this beast he and all the realm has assumed to be unbeatable. He watched as the blue horned head nussled the now lifeless black one and tried to get it to respond. It's eyes opened weakly, tears of pain were there but weren't shed. The blue head again nudged it, but there was still no other response. The look of panic on that blue head would forever be etched in the young Cavalier's mind.

"Who did this? _What_ did this?"

"When… you destroyed the abomination known as Deamodragon." Tiamat replied wearily, "A number of scalesssss were left behind from its destruction. The wizard Kelik took them and made from it a clone which he has taught to obey him absolutely, even the effect of your weapons would not-" Tiamat took a deep and painful breath, "-be sufficient to break his spell."

"Kelik? That slimeball, I thought Venger had got rid of him."

"He livessss." Tiamat confirmed, "The tri-headed Deamodragon clone that he has created is far stronger than the original creation of Vengeeeer."

"Sronger than Venger's mess up? Oh boy!"

"Kelik has named it Tannhauser, it has taken over the Dragon's Graveyard and many of the dragon territories." Eric hadn't ever come across any dragon territories but realised that it taking over the Dragon's Graveyard was a _very_ bad thing.

"And you fought it?" Tiamat's eyes glowed a dangerous yellow, "Okay, okay of course you fought it… but..." Eric gestured at her wounds. "Dang."

"It is, too strong for me." Eric started to feel the world tumble down around him, the frankness and honesty of that bitter admission chilled him to the very core.

"Then why do you need me?"

"You must go to the Dragon's Graveyard alone." Again a pause, a deep ragged breath. "And defeat Tannhauser."

**_"WHAT?!"_** Eric screamed, "Why alone? I can't handle that thing alone - I can barely handle keeping this stupid armour from going rusty!"

"The scales that were taken had been exposed to the power of your weaponssss; as such Tannhauser's creation, combined with his exposure to the powers of the Dragon's Graveyard have made it immune to the power your weapons posessss." Tiamat struggled to get the words out. "The Dungeon Maaaster assured me the one who stood the best chance of defeating the abomination would be here."

"Why me?"

"The only creature that has the power to destroy Tannhauser is Tannhauser itself." Her eyes fell on the Cavalier's shield, "Alone you have a better chanccccccccce of surviving, you must repel enough of the beasts power back at it to destroy it."

"But why _alone_." Eric gritted his teeth, "I don't have any offensive weapon to fight off anything else Kelik has lurking there, just this stupid shield. Why can't I go to Tardos Keep and grab some Dragon's Bane and destroy it like we did it's Daddy."

Tiamat closed her main eyes as beads of sweat rolled down her slightly squashed looking face and grunted negatively, "As with the power of your weapons, the scales that survived also survived the wrath of the kreknor." Eric assumed that this was what the dragons called Dragon's Bane.

"Don't tell me. It's immune to that too?"

"Yessss." Tiamat sighed; her voice only seemed to hold a singular voice now, that of the main head. "Alone you will attract less attention; the other pupils of the Dungeon Master would not survive its onslaught long."

"I… see." Eric walked up to the black head which looked at him and emitted a low moan. Without even thinking about it the Cavalier rubbed its snout reassuringly.

A grunt and scuffling drew the attention of the pair as a green thing, muttering very unsavoury words about doors, gaps and stupid robes dragged itself up from under the gap in the door Eric had been aiming for, dusted itself down and adjusted its glasses.

Presto blinked twice. "Um, what the heck is going on?"

* * *

**__****_AAUK: For those wondering ERT means 'Earth Realm Time'.  
Tiamat: Pleasssssse Review!  
AAUK: What is it with you and exssssssssstending words?  
Tiamat: It is the way I ssspeak. It's to give a realisic emphasssis on the way my voice is in the seriessss.  
AAUK: That's as maybe, but could you do it less in the next chapter?  
Tiamat: If you insssssist.  
AAUK: [Wipes face clean] Anyone got an umbrella or something?  
  
ArchangelUK 0:oS_**


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